This issue of STASIS deals with the topic of “political theology.” Although the term has a wide range of meanings, the articles presented here deal with the more radical forms of both politics and religion. The catch that emerges is that such radicalism may be either reactionary, seeking to restore a lost and mythical Golden, or it may seek a progressive and revolutionary overthrowing of the current situation. This tension within radicalism pertains not merely to politics, but very much to religion itself. So, how does one assess such a tension? The articles in this issue do so by means of either theoretical interventions or case studies.

Stasis is a peer-reviewed academic journal in social and political theory, which is jointly edited by a group of intellectuals from Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe. The Journal is published by the European University at Saint-Petersburg. Stasis is a bilingual journal that publishes articles in English and in other languages from the region. Stasis accepts for publication articles both in English and in the languages of the region. In the case of acceptance, the articles originally written in other languages are translated into English. Unlike many academic journals, Stasis is conceived as a cooperative project where the international board is not a consultative body but a collective editor.

The title, Stasis, means at once a particular position, an interrupting suspension, and an uprising. The journal thus represents an excentric and estranged standpoint which considers things and events while always holding in view the possibility of revolutionizing them. Far from defending a stagnation, Stasis thus suggests a sudden interruption of the hectic inertial motion, in a move of reflection and contestation.